The last work-in-progress release. Bullet hit collision detection was reworked (to be able to add new user made terrains not depending on x-com loftemps.dat file in the future) and it needs extensive testing to ensure that nothing got broken.

Please add F_SHOWLOFCELL = 1 to the end of ufo2000.ini file and test how it works. It should give a picture of currently selected cell shape in the top right corner (this picture is also used for precise aiming).

PS. I finally got one week of vacation, so hope to provide work-in-progress releases almost every day from now on. But I need your help testing them. Thanks.

The last what? Work-in-progress release? I hope to build new releases every day while I have such an excellent possibility to work on the game Unfortunately it will not last long, I need to get back to work on Monday and probably will not have any free time for ufo2000 once again for quite a long period of time.

That's why I would like to ask everyone to test these builds and report any problems ASAP if you can. Otherwise it will be too late to fix them.

Another work-in-progress release. Fixes for the bugs found in the new units animation code. Also now we have a fictional 'chameleon' unit type which can have lots of user made skins as its appearance. This was done to allow having multiple user skins in the game without doing a true implementation of unit modding. So all the unit types and their stats are still hardcoded, but 'chameleon' appearance can be modded already

Currenly descriptions for experimental 'soldier' skin made by nappes, x-com 'civilian' and 'ethereal' appearance are included with the game.

This might be useful for more testing/use on the game. Some time ago I asked Bagirov to replace the Civilian unit image with his cammoflage mod (which I am sure can also be added to the list of available units) so that the Civilians on Terror Sites of the original game would be soldiers instead. It worked but there was graphic problems because the new images were taller than the original ones.

I kept the files though and I've just tried adding them to the /chameleon folder but the .lua keeps crashing on me. Anyone wants to have a try at the code? (all images are already done, including dying).

This might be useful for more testing/use on the game. Some time ago I asked Bagirov to replace the Civilian unit image with his cammoflage mod (which I am sure can also be added to the list of available units) so that the Civilians on Terror Sites of the original game would be soldiers instead. It worked but there was graphic problems because the new images were taller than the original ones.

I kept the files though and I've just tried adding them to the /chameleon folder but the .lua keeps crashing on me. Anyone wants to have a try at the code? (all images are already done, including dying).

The game does not like cammo.pck file for some reason, I will try to investigate this problem.

New skins minor bugfixes, added chat console to the units equipment/stats edit screen, increased size of the armoury a bit, support for switch windowed/fullscreen mode using alt-enter (more familiar to windows users), prtsc key to make screenshots.

- Weapon indexes are not needed to be specified in lua files now!- Improvements to the weaponsets selection user interface, now it is possible to use PgUp/PgDn keys to cycle through all the available weaponsets in the unit editing screen, also current weaponset name is displayed above armoury. - Now both users are forced to use the same weaponset (they had the same list of available weaponsets before, but could use any of them independently of the other player's choice)- Now the game does not allow you to start a mission with some guns not loaded

It's quite a major milestone. Support for modding weapons is pretty much complete now and should be ready for general use. We only need to test it and fix the bugs. Sure we can improve weapons modding even further: add custom sounds, graphics effect on projectile hit individual for each item, add weaponsets pairs (for example one player uses only human weapons, the other - only alien) and the others. But we need to make a break now, ensure that what we already have works correctly and finally make and include our own weaponset into the distributive so that it can be used even without the data files from x-com. That's up to Kratos and the team

I will switch to maps modding now and will try to add some basic support for the new moonbase tileset (issue #182). There is not much time left (considering that I also need to have some rest before starting a new working week), so no promises.

Well, everything is going to wrap up, please test this latest beta and report any new bugs you can find. Thanks for your help

Edit: By the way, if you have encountered 'user is already online' problem when connecting lxnt.info:2001 server, that should be already fixed.

But we need to make a break now, ensure that what we already have works correctly and finally make and include our own weaponset into the distributive so that it can be used even without the data files from x-com. That's up to Kratos and the team

The Galactic weapon set is almost complete to be thrown in with the beta. All is left is some handobject/groundobject images to be thrown in. I estimate 3-7 days until its finished.

beta version...what to say about it? i have played it and i found very useful teh list of soldiers below the mini-map, i find it realy useful..
graphics i thin kare like normal ufo2000, and are ok for me.

the one thing i didn't like it was the changes that have been made to the commands, that ones that are above chat when playing, that ones i like them the old x-com way, are easier and faster 2 use, (obviously 4 me )

the one thing i didn't like it was the changes that have been made to the commands, that ones that are above chat when playing, that ones i like them the old x-com way, are easier and faster 2 use, (obviously 4 me )

* Removed check for bigobs, floorob and handob pck files existence on start as they are not critical for the game anymore (in the worst case we will see an empty armoury, in the best - we will just use our own weaponset)* Now the weapons which have only a single ammunition type are already loaded in the armoury* User interface improvements for the units editor (items drag-and-drop behaves differently)* Added automatic search for available translation files instead of hardcoded table in C++ code (actually the table is now also hardcoded in a lua file, but it contains a complete ISO 639 table )* Translation files renamed from 2-letter to 3-letter language codes* Translation guide updated* Removed still untranslated French language file* Items not belonging to any valid weapon set are now grouped in a special 'Trash' weapon set* Now it is possible to to save current armoury layout as a weapon set template file using F6 key in a unit editor screen, should help weapon modders a lot* Language translations refreshed

That's the final update which finishes a period of 6 days full time working on the game. Now development process reverts back to normal

Clearly you have been working your tiny fingers HARD. Tell me, how does the F6 weaponset maker work? I press F6, and lo and behold, when I quit and load up, it's not there! I deleted everything in the Trash#1 weaponset and added plasma weapons, then pressed F6 and quit. Not there anymore!

Clearly you have been working your tiny fingers HARD. Tell me, how does the F6 weaponset maker work? I press F6, and lo and behold, when I quit and load up, it's not there! I deleted everything in the Trash#1 weaponset and added plasma weapons, then pressed F6 and quit. Not there anymore!

You have 'equipment.lua' file in your ufo2000 directory. You can create some subdirectory in 'extensions' folder and copy this 'equipment.lua' file there, after that restart the game. Not very user friendly, but it is better than what we had before

* Added 'Galactic' weapon set made by Kratos and the others* Added latest version of new unit skin make by nappes (added sprites for crouching and holding weapons)* Updated German translation (Violazr)* Some fixes in internationalization support (but a few german messages do not work because of this now)

* Latest update for the German translation (Violazr)* Belarusian translation updated (Serge)* Added support for the original TFTD weapon set, also we have weaponset with original X-COM stats now (DiversanT)

If you encounter any assert message box on start, go to 'extensions' subdirectory and delete some unofficial weapon packages (most likely 'weapons' subdirectory). They can conflict with TFTD weapon set.

That's true, I did not run any benchmarks (stable version does not have FPS indicator and I'm too lazy to add it to the old sources:)). But current beta has at least two important optimizations that greatly improve performance: Tursiops' rewrite of visibility code (helps not to degrade performance when many soldiers are available and also on movement animation) and my 'optimization' of map drawing code (the change was actually quite trivial, just removed some extra intermediate bitmap, but the result is amazing). So 'beta' is now faster than 'stable', it is a good reason for switching to beta now and help us to fix the remaining bugs in order to make a new stable version based on it sooner

Actually, I never had any problems whatsoever with "unstable" betas except for sluggish speed.
And all bugs I did enconter were in the last stable as well.

Except for the LOS errors, invisibility after falling, and the occasional tile overlap, I didn't notice any.
The rest is feature stuff like the ability to throw heavy stuff regardless of strength/weight.

The only time it ever crashed on me was when my opponent got a new weapon pack between exiting and rejoining a game (while I stayed in the mission planner, ie he bypassed the version comparision).

* Added scale2x support ('*' key to scale battlescape image). Now it is possible to play ufo2000 with bigger sprites, it should be much more comfortable for new users who are used to x-com 320x200 graphics.

Note: This is probably the last beta from me in the forseeable future. I have a deadline for the next release coming closer at my work (15 September) and I need to concentrate on it quite hard. That's why all the hobby projects like ufo2000 are on hold now. Only some critical or urgent fixes are possible. And I will much rarely visit forums.

On a positive side, it is a good time for another developer to take over working on ufo2000 for this period

I don't want to take a chance of making a duplicate of a issue but an error occured and crashed saying "Assert failed at line 97 of src/explo.cpp"
I might know what I did that got it to crash. I primed the alien grenade then put it in the small launcher. That might be the cause.

I don't want to take a chance of making a duplicate of a issue but an error occured and crashed saying "Assert failed at line 97 of src/explo.cpp"I might know what I did that got it to crash. I primed the alien grenade then put it in the small launcher. That might be the cause.

Searching for similar issues in the bugtracker is not too difficult. Also if you don't manage to find anything similar, but there is a duplicate already, the developers can always fix it and set all the needed relationships and issue status. So don't worry and report issues in the bugtracker The only thing you need to do in order to save some developers' time is to search before deciding to submit a new issue. If you find the same bug already reported, you can just add your comment providing more important details. That would be appreciated.

* Scale2x and auto-centering on newly seen enemies can now be turned on/off in options dialog (Twilight Owl)* Now we use MMX optimized scale2x functions when possible to improve performance* Latest weapon sets fixes from DiversanT (and the others)* Modified x-com weapon set is now used by default after installation (Kratos)* Partial convertion of documentation to html format* Fix for bug #399 ('Enemy in sight box is missing when using scale2x mode')* Now it is possible to copy item instead of dropping while equipping soldiers by holding SHIFT key* Added weapon reload sounds in the battlescape

* Added new cursors and selector arrows by Nachtwolf.* Added new selection, aiming and throwing boxes (images by Nachtwolf).* Added new fire animation made by Nachtwolf* Some performance and memory usage optimizations (the game should be faster when using big maps, especially on slow computers)

Note: if you prefer the old x-com style cursors and selection boxes, you can copy the attached file 'standard-images.lua' to 'init-scripts' directory overwriting the default one: http://ufo2000.lxnt....dard-images.lua

Also I'm very busy now so can't pay much attention to what's happening in the forum/bugtracker (hopefully the next week will be much better in this respect). Thanks to Twilight Owl who provided most of the fixes for this beta release

* Initial experimental support for defining tilesets using lua files (mcd replacement), terrain properties are not working yet, but that should be quite easy to implement.* Test version of 'Moon Base' terrain, it contains graphics made by nappes to replace copyrighted stuff. But only 2 tiles from it are used right now * The game should now work faster in night missions* Fixed compilation problems when using current stable version of mingw

This beta version of the game is the first that can start even without any data files from x-com! It has some issues with some missing icons or misplaced text, new default terrain type 'Moon Base' still needs to be done (only a simple and trivial test version is included with the game). Please test it and report what needs to be 'polished'. Also reporting the use of copyrighted content accidently included in the distributive would help, it should be removed and replaced (for example, sectoid and muton pictures are definitely ripped from x-com and it is not a good idea to keep them in the distributive).

Current development priorities:1. advanced modding support (customizable maps, weapons, units) and a set of royalty free resources distributed with the game, so that it can be played even without having any original x-com game2. performance and memory footprint optimizations (to be able to port the game to mobile devices)3. portability (MacOS and AMD64 support)4. reliability

These are the task that should be done before the next stable release (also see #217). We don't have many active developers which have spare time to work on the game right now, so 1. and 2. are being worked on. One we get all the needed features working, fixing bugs will have more attention.

Post 0.8.x release tasks (just because we can't do everything without delaying release date too much):1. AI3. Automatic update2. geoscape and single player game mode